We did it!
The 2018 legislature balanced the budget and passed 534 bills.
It’s a lot to accomplish in just seven weeks. Many of the bills were worked on during the summer and fall interim committee meetings and were ready to go when the session started.
We have what we call the “Bill of Bills;” it provides resources to implement the policy bills that we pass. This bill is huge, but I will give you a few highlights.
We started with $382 million ongoing new revenue and $101 million in one-time surplus. We paid back $85 million in FY2010 loans from our rainy-day funds. We also bolstered our “working rainy day fund” by appropriating $67 million in on-going revenue to buildings. That fulfilled our commitments from the 2017 session.
Even with the new money we had, we spent the first two weeks of the session “scrubbing” our budgets and identified $69 million of reductions and reallocations.
In February, we learned that we would have an additional $126 million in on-going and $83 million in one-time new General and Education Fund revenue on top of an $85 million windfall from Federal Tax Reform.
We used that windfall to modestly rebalance our tax system and invest $85 million in public education on top of more than $200 million we put in from our expanding economy.
State employees received a 2.5 percent raise and a 4.1 percent health insurance increase. We also paid $20 million for the cost of fighting last year’s wild land fires. We paid cash up-front for the higher education buildings we approved this session and appropriated $36 million in debt service saving to pay cash for the prison in hopes that we can avoid bonding.
Four of my bills passed and are on their way to the governor. I mediated one bill to get the relief that constituents needed and avoided having to pass that bill; I consider that a win. I had one bill that ran out of time and it has been put on the schedule for interim committee discussion. I also got the funding for the USUE Prehistoric Museum. I have been promised that money will be put into their budget to be used as they see fit.
I will be filing a few new bills as soon as we are allowed. I am working with several local groups to look at current laws and how to make them more effective.
We had some great bills passed that were written for rural Utah and our economic development. You can email me or look them up on the le.utah.gov website. A very special thank you to my husband, John. I could not do this without his support and hard work.
Thanks again for allowing me to serve you. I ask for your support in my bid to return to the legislature. Cell:435-650-1969, Email: christinewatkins@le.utah.gov.
Facebook: Representative Christine Watkins District 69
Productive 2018 session closes
Utah State Rep. Christine Watkins